


Tears of Saint Lawrence

by DalekLetoEndeavour



Category: Grantchester (TV), The Grantchester Mysteries - James Runcie
Genre: Cambridge, Drunken Shenanigans, Episode Related, Internal Conflict, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Sidney Chambers is a saint, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25737259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DalekLetoEndeavour/pseuds/DalekLetoEndeavour
Summary: Remember when Sidney told Geordie about his late night climbs, when he was a fellow at corpus Christi? Season 2 episode 2This story gives a bit more insight on what could have happened back then.AU of Road to Grantchester
Relationships: Sidney Chambers & Geordie Keating, Sidney Chambers/Robert Kendall
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Tears of Saint Lawrence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [billspilledquill](https://archiveofourown.org/users/billspilledquill/gifts).



> If you can read this dear friend, I've won the fight against AO3 on my phone.
> 
> For the wonderful @billspilledquill 
> 
> Somehow by sheer accident Sidney ended up sharing Prince Andreijs passion for the sky.

Now in the dead of the night, once again at the peril of a deep fall with just the mercy of his friends steady hands, Sidney was thrown back to the last time he had been up here.  
The last time he felt his wings.

Back then he was young and naïve.  
Drunk as drunk on turpentine, he'd used that expression for an irrational sake of a lost romantic cause which irked deep inside him.  
Very drunk.  
Light their steps had been.  
Flying up the stairs at an impossible speed in the dead of the night.  
The dizziness had caught up with them once they were on the roof.  
Laughing.  
Another sip of cheap liquor  
Another daring touch 

"Come on Chambers! I will catch you." 

Cheeky sod.  
Cheeky daredevil.  
Cheeky wicket alive posh boy, whose lips tasted like gin, smoke and sin.

"Mensae caelestis participes faciat nos Rex gloriae aeternae."

He yelled into the night smashing the empty bottle against the nearest wall.  
Rascal.  
Rouge....  
There were so many more words but Sidney couldn't think about more , he was kissed and dragged towards the edge of the rooftop.  
'May the King of eternal glory make us partakers of the heavenly table, hear hear!!

The night was at its peak and they were young, so why not be a bit reckless ever so often.  
They weren't so courageous in the broad range of the bright day.

Yet right here, right now where the Big dipper dances across the sky alongside  
constellation of Cygnus,they were kings.  
They were youthful like Achill and Patroclus without sorrows.  
Equal to Alexander and Hephaistos drunk as drunk on cheep wine.

Robert ghosted a kiss onto his neck as he whispered something, which Sidney didn't quite catch star struck by a meteorite shower chasing just across Mars.  
The Perseids, he recalled, also know as the tears of Saint Lawrence. Remembering the legend and martyrdom of said saint, wondering if they would also be martyrs if found.  
His companion chuckled softly, realizing his words had been lost.  
"Sometimes I believe you belong to the stars."  
Sidney called him silly among other things before they dared the final climb.  
Up to the highest ground of the tower.  
Up there they were truly the kings of their own world.  
Cambridge at their feet.  
A slumbering beauty. A golden net of street lamps surrounding her curves and scarcely lightning dark alleys. Where one crucial touch discriminates between murder and romance.  
Robert is the first to be on top as always, having steady dry hands while pulling Sidney safely over the lip of the turret.  
The thrill is still the same even after a hundred nights.  
Still an impossible adrenalin rush consumed by a luscious lust for life and adventure.

Their heads spin.  
The wind is stiff up here.  
The air is like crystalline water, clear and cold.  
They take a moment to appreciate they made it, this time  
To thank the stars they didn't fall, this time.  
You never know what tomorrow might bring.

Once that first thrill of ecstasy fades they seek it elsewhere.  
And so it comes that Robert speaks freely and Sidney listens this time a simple demand.  
"Show me the stars Chambers."  
And this time he'd oblige too happily.  
For he's made out of star dust with wings made of the milky way

Meteorites were chasing across the sky tonight as well, yet clouds started to obscure the view.

"Beat the night, you said. Push your limits." "Geordie?"  
"You were right. There's no way Crompton climbed this like he said, so who did?." concluded Geordie.  
Sidney shrug his memory away. It took him a few more seconds to get back into the present. The touches of the past still burned in his mind, demanding to be relived.  
"You've really gotta know the person you do this with. Really trust them." He cleared his throat. Geordie gave him an almost concerned look but Sidney smiled it away. Best to pretend he's feeling a bit nauseous than love sick.  
Mrs Lyalls words about Nirvana,” a perfect place like your heaven. We had it here” fed on him still.  
Robert's and his heaven had been placed right here on Kings chapel with only the Perseids to witness their rule.  
Tears of Saint Lawrence were a better name indeed.  
Sidney wasn’t a saint despite other people claiming he was, yet he shared those tears with the stars. Wishing there would have been a way for Robert to return like Saint Lawrence to him every year on said blessed nights.  
" Kit Bartlett?"  
"Kit Bartlett."  
Geordie nod at his friend. There was a case to wrap up.  
No more time to dwell in memories.  
The fall would be deep if he wouldn’t watch his feet.

**Author's Note:**

> Shamelessly resurected Robert into this AU Frankenstein style only to have him disappear off screen.
> 
> The words "drunk as drunk on turpentine" are the beginning of a Pablo Neruda poem with the same name.  
> Sidney had a few too many to remember it properly.


End file.
